Rama Raama Raamaa

Dr. R.Rangan ji is a man of wisdom and simplicity. He was awarded Yoga-Vidya-Varidhi, a doctoral degree in Yoga from S-VYASA University, Bangalore. He is a master of Vedas, Vedic Sanskrit, Upanishads and epics. His main inspiration is Sri Rama, whom he calls as his friend, philosopher and guide. He learnt Advaita-Vedanta in a traditional way from Sri Sivarama Krishna Shastri. Then he learnt the texts of Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita schools by himself out of interest. He learnt Vyakarana and Sahitya from Sri Thirumalachari, Bhakti- shastras like Bhagavatam from Sri Sri Krishnapremi swamigal, Sri Balakrishna Sastri and Sri Hariji. He has written a commentary of Brahmasutra in Sanskrit. Uniqueness of this commentary is that it is based on Rig-Veda and Ramayana, while other commentaries are based mainly on Upanishads. He wrote thousands of research articles on Ramayana, Mahabharata, Vedas, Vedanta and Yoga before the age of twenty seven. He has published papers related to traditional Vedic education in the International Journal of Yoga.

A khon (classical Thai mask play) performer and instructor specialised in Titans (Asura/ Rakshasa) character with PhD qualification in the major of Cultural Heritage Management and Tourism , and Master of Performing Arts in Thai classical dance. Currently working as adjunct lecturer at the International College if Sustainability of Srinakarinwiroj University (SWU) and the Faculty of Dramatic Arts of Bunditpatanasilpa Institute if Fine Arts (BPI) as well as freelance artist. 

Special skills:-

- Sacred Virabhadra ritual dance

- Sacred (vishnu’s) Elephant Capturing Dance

- Researcher in sacred dances in relation to Hinduism and Bharatnatyam 

- Basic level student in Bharatnatyam with Bithul Sarna Barua Guruji at ICCR Bangkok 

- Basic Northern Thai Sacred War Drum training

Vikrant Pande has (till Feb 2023) published 2 books and 12 translations (Marathi bestsellers into English) some of them being Ranjit Desai’s Raja Ravi Varma, Shreeman Yogi (Shivaji the Great Maratha) and Radheya (Karna the Great Warrior), NS Inamdar’s Rau, The Love Story of Bajirao-Mastani, Milind Bokil’s Shala amongst others. Incidentally Raja Ravi Varma, Shala and Bajirao Mastani were made into movies based on the Marathi original. His translation of Girish Kuber’s Tatayan as The Tatas- How a Family Built a Business and a Nation got the Gaja Capital best business book award for the year 2019. It is now being made into a serial for OTT. Vikrant’s three translations, Kaka Vidhate’s Duryodhan and Vishwas Patil’s Sambhaji and Anita Padhye’s biography of Goldie Anand, the Man and His Movies were released in 2021. Vikrant, along with Neelesh Kulkarni, has written In The Footsteps of Rama, Travels with the Ramayana, a travelogue and unknown stories of Ramayan (HarperCollins, April 2021). The book is being made into a travel serial by a top OTT producer. Vikrant’s most recent work is The SBI Story, Two Centuries of Banking (Westland, Nov 2021) and has been received very well. He is currently writing a story on the history of India Post, for Penguin International. Vikrant is an engineer and a graduate of Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and currently resides at Vadodara. He is a full-time writer.

Shri. Prakash Belawadi is an Indian actor, and a director. He is the Managing Trustee and Founder of Center for Film and Drama which produces stage plays, conducts courses in Film making and acting.

Michael Sternfeld, MA, is a lover of all things Ramayana. He is an independent scholar and also a producer/director with over 400 productions in theater, music, dance, audio and video to his credit. He earned his MA in Vedic Science from Maharishi University of Management, during which he became fascinated with the Ramayana. He has spent the last 30 years creating numerous productions of the great epic, including theatrical productions, a theme park, and the first complete audio production of the unabridged Ramayana of Valmiki. At 75 hours long, this production is the world’s longest audiobook. Mr. Sternfeld has also published many articles and regularly speaks on the Ramayana at universities and in executive leadership settings across the country. In addition to publishing the complete audio Ramayana, he has also published numerous other audiobooks, including: Ram’s Dharma: Leadership Secrets of the Ultimate Warrior~Sage~Prince and All Love Flows to the Self: Eternal Stories from the Upanishads. Most recently, Michael collaborated with the renowned kirtan singer Krishna Das to release a major new audio production, Hanuman's Leap of Faith. Michael has been practicing meditation regularly for over 45 years and currently lives in Fairfield, Iowa, from where he often serves as a producer/consultant for the David Lynch Foundation.

Ami Ganatra is the author of 2 bestselling books on Itihāsa: Mahabharata Unravelled and Ramayana Unravelled. An IIMA alumna, she is also a devout yoga practitioner, a certified yoga instructor, and a student of Saṃskrit and Indian knowledge systems. Her books Mahabharata Unravelled and Ramayana Unravelled, are not retellings or imaginations, but an attempt to go back to the original itihāsa and present the story, learnings and nuances for what they are, and make the epics accessible to all.

Vijayalakshmi Vijayakumar is the Co-Founder of Center For Softpower and the founder secretary of Heritage Parampara a not-for-profit trust. She has flown powered aircrafts, played state level softball, danced Bharatanatyam, given talks on culture and heritage, organized conferences, been on the Central Film and Censor Board, the National Advisory Board for Philately and is a freelance designer and copywriter too. Heritage trust conducts two annual well-known festivals, Gudiya Sambhrama and Srishti Sambhrama, the Earth Mother Festival. A third festival that premiered in 2018 was The Heritage Drive, a 1100 km motor sport rally that took participants to heritage temples and included tree planting as well. She loves story telling, her approach is creative and innovative. She is presently writing a novel based on historical events in India

Abhinav is a technology professional with over twenty years in the software industry, the technical editor of a book published by McGraw-Hill, a prolific writer on areas on technology and Indology. He is a computer engineer and holds a post graduate diploma from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Vinay Varanasi is a keen practitioner of Sanatana dharma. Based on his research and fascination, he has been exploring and presenting different indic works, in unique formats. He believes that our itihaasas and puranas have stories and symbolism of great relevance to each of us. He has a special interest in the epics, and the myriad messages present there. He uses the power of storytelling to highlight different aspects of dharma. He does this through individual talks and lectures, as well as collaborations with musicians. Individually, he has given talks on Lalitha, Bala Tripura sundari, Sita, Sundara Kandam, Rama Mahima, and so on. He has given talks to audiences world wide. He has collaborated with musicians and conceptualized thematic productions, focussing on the intersection of music and spirituality. He has worked with musicians such as Ramakrishnan Murthy, Vivek Sadasivam, Sumesh Narayananan, and organizations such as Madrasana, Aalaap, Indica Soft Power. His collaborations have explored themes such as nature in music,Shiva conciousness, Rama and Devi, Prana and Anjaneya, and so forth. He is a lyricist by passion, and writes pallavi lyrics, tuned and sung by musicians such as Vidushis Ranjani & Gayatri. He has co translated the kritis of Yogi Nareyana of Kaiwara. The confluence of Sangeeta, sahitya and sanatana dharma are seen in his talks and collaborations. Vinay is an architect by training, and is currently working in the environmental sector.

Shivakumar GV is an IT professional in the domain of Learning and Development, with a deep interest in Bharateeya Samskriti. He is part of the Indica fraternity as a Scholar-in-Residence at Indica, Consulting Editor for Indica Today and contributes to Indica Conferences. He is researching on Puranas to create frameworks for application in contemporary times and contributes to Indica Conferences. At IndicA Today he writes on Civilizational narratives, Mahabharata and anchors Kannada content. He is also one of the authors of ''Unsung Valour: Forgotten Wars of Kurukshetra'' - curated by SaiSwaroopa Iyer for Indica. Mahabharata, Rigveda, Bharatiya Itihasa-Purana and Civilizational Conflicts are his areas of interest. He is a BTech graduate from National Institute of Technology, Surat and an MTech from IIT Mumbai. He lives in Bangalore with his parents, wife and daughter. He is greatly inspired by the Rivers of India – Saraswatee in particular.